More great work from Jason @ It's All About the Money. The chart above illustrates the disparity between the highest and lowest team payrolls for every year since 1990. And Jason should know: he runs a Yankees blog. Seriously though, note that 2002 is when things really start going nuts. Also note that 2002 is the first year of the current soft cap regime we have in today's MLB. This is what happens when you have a soft cap, revenue sharing, and no salary floor.